


Dark Skies

by rangerhitomi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Fusion War, Gen, Team XYZ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 03:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3554312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerhitomi/pseuds/rangerhitomi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shun observes Yuto more than the stars, because Yuto’s passion burns hotter than any blue giant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Skies

Once a year, all the lights in Heartland go out – all of them, from the illuminated heart on the city’s central tower all the way down to the red flashing numbers on alarm clocks – so the inhabitants of the city can see the stars. It’s an event Yuto looks forward to every year, because it’s the only time the telescope his parents bought for his eighth birthday can observe the sky without the glare of the city lights. Shun doesn’t get as excited. There are other things he could be doing at ten o’clock on a Friday night (Ruri laughs at this so Shun stops talking to her) but his science teacher decided to give them a viewing assignment during the lights-out, so he accompanies Yuto because Shun wants a good grade and all the stars look the same to him anyway. Astronomy is probably the only thing Yuto is better at than Shun.

An hour after school ends, Yuto has his telescope set up, his star chart out, and red cellophane taped over a couple of flashlights (“if you really need light to see, red light helps to maintain night vision,” he explains). The school roof is a good place to observe, he explains, taking some snacks out of his bag for the long wait. Ruri is on her phone, and Shun doesn’t even have to see the screen to know that she’s tweeting about how bored she is.

Yuto is reserved, a dreamer, idealistic. But when the sun goes down and the lights all over the city go out, he’s dragging Ruri to the telescope, pointing out open clusters and identifying star types—

_Stars all look the same to us usually, but look! You can see that they’re different shapes and colors, and see that? That’s a binary star system—_

—and all Ruri cares about is which constellation represents her birthday and what her sign says about her and Yuto is traumatized because _astrology is fake, Ruri._

Shun stands by, observing Yuto more than the stars, because Yuto’s passion burns hotter than any blue giant.

* * *

 

Shun drags himself home one night after a particularly grueling prep class and almost walks past Yuto, who is slouching on a park bench watching some kids duel. He’s still in his school uniform, with his shirt untucked and his second-year tie hanging loose, and his backpack sits next to his feet. One of the kids XYZ summons, and Yuto’s eyes flicker upward, toward the handful of stars in the sky that can be seen through the light pollution, and he smiles.

Shun sits next to him. “Don’t you have homework to do?”

Yuto glances over, eyes wide with surprise. “Shun… what are you doing here?”

“Walking home.” Shun watches the duel for a minute. “You?”

“It’s fun to watch them duel at night.” Yuto adjusts his posture so he’s no longer lounging like a delinquent. “It looks cool when they XYZ summon.”

It’s an odd sentiment. Shun is about to ask why, but as a second overlay takes place, the swirling mass of the overlay network forms, like a miniature galaxy of its own, and Shun understands.

Everyone is captivated by the network’s beauty. Everyone smiles.

* * *

 

Sometimes, when Shun comes home late, he walks through the park to sit with Yuto for a bit, pretend he’s not interested in light pollution and alternate public lighting solutions. Yuto’s always there, except… this time, he isn’t. It’s uncharacteristic of him.

There’s no reason for him to be there without Yuto, so Shun walks past the duels taking place, but he hasn’t made it to the opposite end of the park before a smaller figure nearly rams into him headfirst.

It’s Yuto, and he’s breathing heavily and wide-eyed and sweaty, and his duel disk is on his arm. He glances back the way he’d come from.

“We have to go,” he rasps, and he grabs Shun’s hand.

His grip is so tight that Shun can’t pull free, but Shun can plant himself firmly where he is until Yuto explains what the hell is going on.

There’s a scream, not too far away, and Yuto chokes back a sob and pulls harder at Shun’s arm. “Shun, they’re here, we have to—“

There’s no time to ask who Yuto was talking about. One scream turns into ten, fifty, a hundred—

A blinding beam of red light falls from the sky, wracking the earth with tremors. Yuto falls to his knees; his grip on Shun’s hand ensures that Shun follows him. Blinking the imprint of light from his vision, Shun sees Yuto’s pale, open-mouthed expression, and follows his gaze back toward the park.

It’s like an army; there are machines as tall as buildings standing behind rows of people wearing identical uniforms, duel disks…

And smiles.

Horrible, horrible smiles.

* * *

 

Yuto won’t look at the sky anymore. That’s where _they_ came from, and they destroyed Heartland City.

He won’t smile, either. It’s hard to find anything to smile about when everyone is dead or captured, when the city is in flames and the sounds of screaming ring in their ears, a constant reminder of how close they are to meeting the same fate as their friends.

How close they are to meeting the same fate as Ruri.

They sometimes go days without food, risk their lives to infiltrate Fusionist supply depots to steal some canned goods. Yuto is a different person on those missions. Calm. Merciless. Shun doesn’t know where Yuto got the dragon. But it’s making Yuto a different person. It’s only food, but he _destroys._

It’s terrifying.

When Yuto XYZ summons, there is nothing beautiful about it. There are no swirling galaxies representing the overlay network, representative of the pure night sky that Yuto once loved. There is only a black hole named Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon, and it is sucking every last particle of light from Shun’s best friend.

* * *

 

Sometimes Shun looks up at the clear night sky of Maiami City from his quarters at Leo Corporation, and thinks about looking at the night sky in Heartland City with Yuto and Ruri, those times he sat with Yuto on the park benches and watched children dueling with smiles on their faces.

Heartland City is gone. Ruri’s gone.

And now Yuto is missing, the quiet voice of reason, the only one who kept Shun focused on their mission in Standard, the one who swore to fight his own demons and make sure that the smiles never left this world.

His hand tightens on the balcony railing before he goes back inside. Yuto’s passion for life burned too hot, too bright. It was inevitable that a star like him would burn up too quickly.


End file.
